Recently, Socorro Electric Coop President Anne Dorough has dedicated considerable energy to letters in the newspaper and mailings with co-op bills. Therein she takes a tack that varies significantly from her actions as leader of the co-op Board of Trustees.
In an abrupt turnabout, she rails against running up legal bills and attorneys’ fees. This in the face of persistently using lawyers and, more recently, a public relations firm to wage a campaign to blunt the efforts of co-op members who wish a say in the management of their (supposedly) electric cooperative.
Ms. Dorough calls on members to rally attendance at meetings in order to fight off the City of Socorro. The triumvirate of Dorough, David Wade and Leo Cordova have persistently done it’s best to design meeting places and agendas to discourage attendance by the membership.
The annual meeting’s most successful occurrence was at the Macey Center in 2012. Members flocked to the meeting in record numbers and voting was significantly above normal. The board has deigned having the meetings at the Macey Center (despite the cost being lower than Finley Gym) ever since. They’d rather not deal with members voting changes inconvenient to the ruling, scheming trustees. “Lack of Quorum” is their preferred outcome to maintain the status quo.
Why now use the terms “fair and reasonable,” “integrity,” “keep in touch with our co-op members,” “encourage them to bring their questions,” “great opportunity to get involved” and worst of all “sincerely?”
Sincerity and integrity have played a minuscule role with the board over the past few years. Now, co-op General Manager Joseph Herrera has run a campaign of terror over co-op employees and weaseled pay exceeding $180,000 per year from the board. This despite his scorn for Socorro and having moved his residence to Los Lunas while we pay for his company vehicle and travel back and forth. The co-op’s manual says all co-op employees live within it’s service area.
Fair and reasonable? Whatever the optimum relationship we might continue with the City of Socorro, Ms. Dorough’s plaintive cries that Members rally around her ring hollow. Perhaps she, Wade, and Cordova should have relied more on a PR firm than on conniving with attorneys in their past actions against the members.